Monthly Archives: November 2007

It has been so long since I’ve written a substantive post, I’m not sure I remember how to do it right anymore. Life is spinning like a whirlwind and and I want to let everyone know what’s going on. So I’ll muttle through the intricacies of language, sentence structure, and punctuation to keep my readers enthralled. ??

We have been running around like crazy the past couple weeks getting ready for our move. The Friday before Thanksgiving Treva’s mother and sister came down to deliver some furnature and help pack. We had a chest of drawers and a headboard made to match the dresser and lamp stand turned table that we already had. The craftsman who made them consulted the Amish guy who made the first set. They match nearly perfectly and we think that in a couple years, when the wood fades somewhat, you won’t be able to tell the difference.

We spent that weekend in Goshen with Treva’s family and celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas with them.

Tuesday we headed to Wisconsin. We had planned on spending the day with friends at the Museum of Science and Industry, but unfortunately they were all sick and had to cancel. We grabbed an earlier train and had the chance to spend more time with my Uncle Darren who would only be in town until the following day.

We were in Wisconsin until Sunday when my Dad and Grandpa drove us back to Richmond. We had a great time and it was good to spent time with everyone since we won’t be able to come home for Christmas this year.

Our friends took us out to dinner Monday which was really nice. We got to spend some more time with them before leaving and they, of course, got to pick on me some more before they had to do it over e-mail. ??

Wednesday was my last day of work in Richmond. It was a day of mixed emotions. Excitement over the upcoming adventure, trepedation over the upcoming adventure, and the sadness that comes with knowing you are leaving good friends.

Because of the giant amount of work I still needed to complete before leaving I decided to go in early. Treva and I arrived at the office at 6:30 to discover the phones didn’t work, we couldn’t get to the internet, and we couldn’t access internal web applications either. Muttering a harty, “I love the smell of server crashes in the morning,” I dove into the server room. When all was said and done I had to reboot both servers (a process that takes about 10-15 minutes per box) and reset the Internet gateway. After discovering everything appeared to be functioning again I got about 20 minutes of work in before I had to go get my hair cut.

On the way back from my appointment I called in to talk to someone and discovered that calls were not being forwarded to voicemail if the phone wasn’t being answered. Fine, yet another box to reset when I get back.

After that was all fixed I finally got around to what I was actually supposed to be doing that day and hammered out the end of year grant report for the state. Well, I got done as much as I could anyway. The report form we used last year was different than the one for this year and I had to send some of it to my boss for him to figure out. I never had any training in this report or even a general overview of what the “workplan” really is and where ours even was.

At the end of the day I ended up deleting myself from all network systems. E-mail, user account, and the StatusView software. It was a little weird to be removing myself from the system, but it did need to be done. Finishing the day by having my picture taken several dozen times I headed home with Treva to cram in as much last minute packing as possible.

After a 45 minute nap, some last minute purging of my office space, packing my suitcases to the point of weighing just under 50 pounds each, reprogramming my scanner, talking with our friends on Ventrilo, scouting the Internet again for more possible housing choices, moving Treva’s computer, putting laundry away, and possibly eating a turkey sandwich somewhere along the way I finally got to bed around 4:30.

“BEEP! BEEP! BEEEEEEP!” says my alarm at 6:15.

“I hate you.” says I.

“BEEP! BEEP! BEEEEEP!” says the alarm with obvious delight.

“If you weren’t on the other side of the room already you sure would be now,” I grumble. Stumbling out of I bed I beat the alarm int o silence. Turning the radio on I crawl back into bed for another 15 minutes. When I wake up again Treva is in the shower and I am absolutely shaking. My teeth were chattering and my limbs were trembling. Do I ever wish I was kidding about this too. It was the weirdest feeling. I don’t know if it was nerves, if I was actually cold, or a combination of both. Maybe my body was just mad at me for granting it so little sleep.

Our ride arrived at 7 and we headed to the airport. I think we both pretty much slept the entire way to the airport. I know I slept through the first part of the flight to Baltimore too.

After getting settled in at our temporary accomodations at the National Center for the Blind I talked with my new boss to learn where I need to be and what I need to do Monday morning. We had an enjoyable dinner with our friends Mark and Melissa and headed back to the Center to relax.

Today is day one of The Great Housing Hunt. We have 4 apartments to look at. I found a few more condos on Craig’s List that I think we’ll check out tomorrow. I have to make arrangements to look at them. Hopefully we’ll find something in our price range that is accessible and not too bad of a commute to the office.

I want to heed the advice that was given to me by someone from my Church before I left for the school for th Blind in 8th grade. He told me to journal my thoughts every day so I would remember the adventures in my life. (Yes, I know this was 10 years ago. let’s not dwell on the fact that I’m coming late to the party, but embrace the fact that I showed up at all.) So, I’m going to try and write something in this blog every day. Hopefully the fact that life is going on won’t stop me. I may not make it every day, but I’m going to try. These book-length posts are too hard on my fingers. ??